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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1506893

Dribble Deficit as an Effective Measure of Dribbling Speed Independent of Sprinting Speed in Professional Female Handball Players

Provisionally accepted
Ljubomir Pavlović Ljubomir Pavlović 1Anja Lazic Anja Lazic 1Nedim Covic Nedim Covic 2Rado Pišot Rado Pišot 3Milan Petronijević Milan Petronijević 4Zoran Milanovic Zoran Milanovic 1*
  • 1 Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia
  • 2 University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • 3 Scientific Research Center Koper, Koper, Slovenia
  • 4 University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between linear and change-of-direction sprinting speed with dribbling speed and Dribble Deficit in professional female handball players. Eleven professional female handball players (mean age: 21.12±4.34 years; body height: 171.59±4.52 cm; body weight: 66.29±5.73 kg) participated in the study. Each participant completed several linear (sprint over 10, 20, and 30 m) and change-of-direction tests (slalom test, zig-zag T-test, 505 test), first without the ball (sprinting speed) followed by ball dribbling (dribbling speed). Dribble Deficit was calculated indirectly as the time difference between the best trial while dribbling minus the best trial without dribbling. A large to very large correlation was observed between the linear sprint and dribbling speed (r = 0.53-0.78), as well as between changeof-direction sprinting speed and dribbling speed (r = 0.66-0.88). The study also showed a moderate to perfect relationship between linear dribbling speed and Dribble Deficit (r = 0.46-0.93), and a large relationship between change-of-direction dribbling speed and Dribble Deficit (r = 0.54-0.55), while the relationships between linear sprinting speed and Dribble Deficit (r = -0.51-0.21) and between change-of-direction sprinting speed and Dribble Deficit (r = -0.14-0.26) were small and non-significant. In summary, Dribble Deficit reflects dribbling ability independent of sprinting ability and refines its application for practical use in assessing dribbling skills in female handball players.

    Keywords: Dribbling, Technical proficiency, team handball, agility, Movement

    Received: 06 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pavlović, Lazic, Covic, Pišot, Petronijević and Milanovic. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zoran Milanovic, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.